A Biewer (bee-vare) Terrier. It's pretty much a yorkie mutation that was considered "unacceptable" for years. A lot like the Parti yorkie, but prettier, silkier, and higher quality from a different line (German instead of US line).

Biewers have patches of white on them, and they are very pretty, especially compared to the partis. Here's some info about them:

The parti gene popped up first here in America from two purebred yorkies. Well, traditional yorkie breeders did not accept this new mutation and really shunned it--euthanized litters and culled adults that carried the gene. It wasn't until it started getting popular that it stopped being culled and became more readily available as a pet.

Then some years later, a similar gene popped up in Germany from a set of purebred yorkies. So as not to confuse the new gene with the parti gene, they called it "Biewer" to distinguish that it came from their dogs' bloodlines--also because they were not sure if it was allelic with the parti gene.

Breeders who were fascinated by the white coloring bred these yorkies for years and learned the genetics behind them. Parti yorkies, Biewer yorkies, etc. So, here's what's REALLY frustrating...

In late 2014, the AKC put the "Biewer Terrier" on their foundation stock service as a new breed so as not to upset traditional yorkie breeders, but to make it its own breed here in America. Overseas, I believe it's still just considered another color of yorkie (because that's what it is).

So now the mutation that popped up in the German line is a new breed called a "Biewer Terrier." It's dumb because elitist yorkie breeders turned their noses down at it, but yet the parti yorkie is still a yorkie. I'm fine with it not being "breed standard," or whatnot, but making it its own breed is just dumb because it's FULL yorkie with documentation.

So the parti yorkie coloration here in America is still a regular yorkie despite being the same thing with subtle differences due to the lineage.

So parti yorkies are yorkshire terriers... but biewer yorkies aren't--they're their own breed since 2014.

What's annoying though, is lots of breeders here have interbred Biewers with yorkies (why wouldn't they? same breed until AKC decided they weren't). But with the AKC designating the Biewer as its own breed, this suddenly makes tons of these dogs "mutts." They were considered purebred prior to late 2014.

Long story short, my younger sister wound up moving in with us, and she wanted a parti yorkie. She found a breeder with biewers though and is planning on getting put on the waiting list for first pick of the litter as soon as the breeder has confirmation the bitch is pregnant. It's just silly that my sister is getting a "mutt" as opposed to a yorkie just due to dog elitist politics.

So the "mutt versions" are called Biewer Yorkshire Terriers. The pures are called Biewer Terriers. And of course, then there are Yorkshire Terriers. Very confusing and annoying. You can't just make something its own breed because a new color popped up!

My younger sister is getting a Biewer Yorkie Terrier (so a mix) in August, assuming the pregnancy takes. The breeder does not "show" her dogs, but she does health test them and acquires them from good lines.

Ironically, this is the same breeder who bred our shih-tzu Zip with the liver shunt. You can't "test" for liver shunt carriers, but after she found out about Zip, she contacted all her clients from past years and warned them about this as well as sterilized all of her shih-tzus so as to completely cull the liver shunt problem inside her breeding program. So she no longer breeds shih-tzus. We found out she was just devastated that she had produced a puppy that passed away like that, and so she just wanted "out" of the breed. I really respected her when I found out she had all those animals of hers sterilized to ensure she was not contributing to liver shunt carriers. So I am very glad that of ALL people to come across when looking for a biewer breeder, my sister happened to "re-find" her. Seems kind of like destiny in a weird sort of way.

So looks like we will be getting a dog. :) And my younger sister wants a puppy. That's fine as long as she's the one who housebreaks it, lol. Me and my older sister don't want to deal with the puppy stage, so we're fine to watch from the sidelines, lol.

They are pretty cute! Just googled them. I know a woman on FB who has a yorkie with loads of white, had no clue it wasn't just a non breed standard Yorkie. Learn something new every day!

I know it is really short notice but if your sister can get up to Michigan it's Premier next month which is one of two big UKC shows (June 12-14). UKC's "motto" is "our dogs do stuff" or something like that. You get a lot or rare breeds which you would not find else where and many of them do a sport as well as prance around the show ring. It might be worth her checking out UKC registered dogs if she is after something different.

Zip's breeder sounds like a good one. You can get tests to say if your dog is more or less likely to have offspring which will have a liver shunt but nothing is 100%. It is really good that the breeder health tests though, that is of paramount importance when looking for a dog.

Elina wrote:They are pretty cute! Just googled them. I know a woman on FB who has a yorkie with loads of white, had no clue it wasn't just a non breed standard Yorkie. Learn something new every day!

I know it is really short notice but if your sister can get up to Michigan it's Premier next month which is one of two big UKC shows (June 12-14). UKC's "motto" is "our dogs do stuff" or something like that. You get a lot or rare breeds which you would not find else where and many of them do a sport as well as prance around the show ring. It might be worth her checking out UKC registered dogs if she is after something different.

Zip's breeder sounds like a good one. You can get tests to say if your dog is more or less likely to have offspring which will have a liver shunt but nothing is 100%. It is really good that the breeder health tests though, that is of paramount importance when looking for a dog.

Been out to the UKC, can confirm it's a blast. Are you going to try and make it this year, Elina?

I think they are pretty. :) That's a shame about the Michigan UKC! I'm sure she would love going there, but it's just too far of a drive and too expensive a flight--well, actually, last I checked plane tickets from Salt Lake to Chicago were actually SUPER cheap this time of year. I'll mentioned it to her. :)

So just wanted to correct some stuff I said above about the Beiwer Terriers. I do NOT think the parti gene is allelic--it behaves differently and "whites-out" the yorkie almost completely, whereas the Biewers have a lot of patches of color still left. There isn't much info, but it sounds like the Biewer gene whitens up the dog with each generation. So F1s, F2s, F3s...--and you get more white the further you go. I don't quite understand the genetics there, but there's obviously something different going on. Maybe some sort of piebalding--though I don't know. And the Biewers apparently have much silkier coats than the partis. There is not much information on them right now that is available online.

I'd love to have a chat with this breeder about the genetics, but that would be weird since I'm not the one interested in buying a dog.

This breeder is waiting to know if the dam's pregnancy took. She should know soon. If everything goes well and "on schedule", the litter should be ready-to-go to their new homes sometime in August. My sister is hoping for a boy, so we have our fingers crossed everything goes planned.

Yep Alynn, I fly out on the 6th to NY and then my friend Stephanie and I are driving :-). I was going to ask if you were coming this year, I hope you can!!! I even have my money is cash so the bank cant bugger it all up again lol.

Ash you should come to Premier with your sister if you can, could be such fun!

I am going to have to look into these Beiwer terriers as I am interested now, not in getting one but about their odd coats. The breeder should be able to tell you if the mating took 28 days after the last tie. This is done via ultrasound. Closer to the date of delivery an x-ray can be done and is often done so you know how many you are expecting by how many calcified skeletons you can see. (Then you also know size, location and whatnot but none of that will be need to know for your sister obviously). I always like to know ASAP so I know if I have something to look forward to :-).

Elina wrote:Yep Alynn, I fly out on the 6th to NY and then my friend Stephanie and I are driving :-). I was going to ask if you were coming this year, I hope you can!!! I even have my money is cash so the bank cant bugger it all up again lol.

Ash you should come to Premier with your sister if you can, could be such fun!

I am going to have to look into these Beiwer terriers as I am interested now, not in getting one but about their odd coats. The breeder should be able to tell you if the mating took 28 days after the last tie. This is done via ultrasound. Closer to the date of delivery an x-ray can be done and is often done so you know how many you are expecting by how many calcified skeletons you can see. (Then you also know size, location and whatnot but none of that will be need to know for your sister obviously). I always like to know ASAP so I know if I have something to look forward to :-).

It's a good thing you're bringing cash!! Most of the vendors there do not accept cards.

I should be able to make it one way or another, I'm just not sure what day. I think we were looking at the 12th/Friday to go. Are you planning on being there the whole time or?

Yep the whole time ;-)Just find the crazy klee kai people and I will be there. I will send you my number on FB. You have to add the country code but if you have whats ap you can message me on there for free and Ill come find you.

Puppies are cute, but I'd never want one. I say that as we are preparing for a day drive up to North Carolina to get our two LGD puppies, so, yknow, I totally stick to my words...

I'm just glad ours will be 20 weeks old by the time we get there. Not as much potty training or general training. I'm sure the puppies will be cute though! They are prettier in my opinion than "regular" yorkies.

Yeah, puppies? Gawsh, no! I would not get one of those again, and I never will!

It's the little sis getting the puppy, so thank-goodness there. She's responsible for all that puppy-stage stuff I wouldn't be able to tolerate. Fox kits? Sure. Dog puppies? NO!!! If she wants to go through it, more power to her, but she's doing that part herself, lol.

I know she wanted it young so that she could train it super well. It'll be a "clean slate" to work with, so that makes sense why she'd want a puppy. She's really reading up on all the ways to teach tricks professionally, so I'm hoping she'll be able to do that with this one.

In all honesty, she'll probably hop on here sometime and make a post about it herself once she gets it. She's already a member, but only posted like 2-3 times. So I won't give away all her plans and the name she's chosen.

Me and her have been really trying to figure out the genetic thing. It looks like the Biewer Yorkie is just a piebald yorkie (with a typically colored face, some randomized color on its back and usually at the base of the tail). Parti Yorkies are piebald as well, but I think extra genes causing high white or split faces make them look different and appear more random, like only have one black spot and being completely white everywhere else. In some breeds it's less obvious why there is a higher white content in the color and research is still being done in this area. I found this really impressive article on dog genetics and although there is no connection to the Yorkie or Biewer (which are honestly should be considered the same dog) I think that a lot of this information is the reason they look different (color wise). The Biewer is probably piebald. And the Parti Yorkie is probably piebald in combination with other affecting genes.

Here's the website page (I have no idea why there is a #false at the end... but it's actually accurate and great information, haha):

We have two Biewers from Holland. They are amazing dogs. Big dogs in little bodies. Jasper is silver and white with a brown head and his brother Cricket is tri colour, brown black and white.

When we asked the breeder they said that biewers only count as biewers if they are a variation of blue (black to silver) brown and white, and are not crossed with a standard Yorkshire terrier. Biro and golddust biewers are biewers without the accepted colours, and parti are Yorke biewer cross. Or at least that's what they told us.

Hope you get your puppy though, you won't regret them, ours are amazing - nothing like our other dogs!